I made some as xmas gifts last year with these recipes. I used tapioca starch instead of meringue powder & skipped the SLS. I also used food color gel & lavender essential oil instead of their color & fragrance. I got the citric acid from the homebrew shop. I almost burned out my mixer w/ the frosting.

Starrynight87, bath salts are ridiculously easy. Just take epsom salt, or an epsom salt/coarse sea salt combo and add essential oil and food coloring if you want. No real measurements. I made some for a friend. I just filled an old cleaned olive jar with salt and added drops of lemon grass oil, blue, and green food coloring. Shake until salt is evenly coated.

I made some as xmas gifts last year with these recipes. I used tapioca starch instead of meringue powder & skipped the SLS. I also used food color gel & lavender essential oil instead of their color & fragrance. I got the citric acid from the homebrew shop. I almost burned out my mixer w/ the frosting.

I made some as xmas gifts last year with these recipes. I used tapioca starch instead of meringue powder & skipped the SLS. I also used food color gel & lavender essential oil instead of their color & fragrance. I got the citric acid from the homebrew shop. I almost burned out my mixer w/ the frosting.

I just attempted to make bath bombs via a Martha Stewart recipe and ended up with a crumbly mess. Now I have a jar of crumbly bath fizz instead, but I'm sure if I drop it by tablespoons into the bath it will still work. I used lemongrass, rosemary, and orange oil, and added a few orange tea bags. It smells so good!

Bath BombsBath bombs really are easy. Basic proportions are 2:1 of Bicarbonate of Soda to Citric Acid (byvolume, not weight) then add your chosen additives. But to be a bit more precise, here is a recipe. Iused a UK metal cup measurer but the good thing about this recipe is that it doesn’t have to be 100%accurate. If it’s too dry, add some more liquid, if it’s too wet, add 2:1 (by the tsp) of BS/CA until it’sright.

Just remember, it’s 2:1 bicarb to citric acid and adjust the wet ingredients from there.

EquipmentLarge mixing bowlMeasuring cups and spoonsSilicone muffin tins or other mouldsWax or greaseproof paper for dryingSpray bottle for the witch hazel/water

Method:Grease your moulds with a little (tiny) bit of almond oil.

Mix together the citric acid and bicarb until well combined and there are no big lumps of bicarb.

Add in the almond oil and fragrance (you can add the fragrance to the almond oil and mix first toensure it distributes better but you don’t have to!). Mix mix mix. Add any additional additives and mixwell again. (I like to add in around 1 tbsp chipped cocoa butter – basically the dregs at the bottom ofmy bag of cocoa butter, but you could grate it!)

Scrunch a big handful and if it holds together (it shouldn’t be too wet), it’s time to start moulding. Ifnot….

Then get your spray bottle and fill it up with water or witch hazel (I usually just use water!) and startspraying. Use your hand to mix it in and after every couple of sprays, scrunch a big handful again.When it starts to hold together as above (don’t soak it!*) you can start moulding.

*You don't want to let it get too wet! If you do, it can start to 'grow'. No biggie but it will affect the overall look of the bombs.

Pack it into the moulds. Press it down REALLY hard and press as much mixture as you can get inthere. Pack it in tight now**! Once packed in, smooth it down on the top as much as you can (totallyunnecessary but stops you having so much of a wonky bottom! – a spray or two of water/witch hazelcan help this).

**If you don't pack it in tight then there is always the chance that they will just crumble when you de-mould them. So really squish it in that mould!

If you can, leave them in the mould for an hour or so then turn them onto wax/greaseproof paper andleave them out in a cool dry place overnight to dry fully. If you don’t have an hour (or have moremixture than moulds) leave them in a minute or so and turn them out carefully.Once dry they’re good to go!

Notes:You can get citric acid in health food shops and home-brewing shops. But it can be pricey and you really want the stuff that isfinely ground (the stuff I found in my local home-brew shop was granules and needed to be ground up before I could use it). Itis cheaper to order it online and you can find it in bulk on ebay, along with bulk bicarbonate of soda.

Some recipes out there call for corn starch; personally I feel this does nothing for the recipe except bulk it out a bit so I don’tbother with it. It also makes the bombs heavier and they sink, not that this is really an issue.

Laser Ox, I'm really grateful for your post. The merengue powder is quite expensive and the SLS powder is impossible to find in UK. the tapioca starch was under £1 at the asian greengrocer and apparently it retains the fragrance very well. How did you manage to frost your cupcakes in 2 colours? They look awesome!!!